USS Voyager
| Registry= NCC-74656 | Affiliation= Federation Starfleet | Status= Active | Datestatus= 2378 | Image2= USS Voyager with hull armor.jpg | ImageCap2= USS Voyager with ablative generators }} The USS Voyager (NCC-74656) was an Federation starship. It was launched in 2371 and was under the command of Captain Kathryn Janeway. The vessel was noted for independently, and successfully, completing an unscheduled seven-year journey across the previously unexplored Delta Quadrant between 2371 and 2378. Construction and Initial Assignment The USS Voyager was constructed at the Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards orbiting Mars and was launched from Earth Station McKinley on stardate 48038.5 in 2371. At the time Voyager was considered one of the fastest and most advanced starships constructed. She was the first to test the class 9 warp drive, had a maximum warp factor of 9.975, bio-neural circuitry, and was one of the first ships to test the Emergency Medical Hologram. Captain Kathryn Janeway assumed command shortly before Voyager left drydock. She was greeted and given a tour of the ship by Admiral Patterson. Voyager's first assignment was to track down a missing Maquis raider, Val Jean, commanded by former Starfleet officer Chakotay. The raider was also carrying an undercover Starfleet officer, Voyager's security chief Lieutenant Tuvok. Captain Janeway enlisted the help of Tom Paris, the disgraced son of Starfleet Admiral Owen Paris, who's knowledge of the Badlands was determined to be essential to the mission. Shortly after departing Deep Space 9 to begin her search, Voyager encountered a coherent tetryon beam which pulled the vessel 70,000 light-years into the Delta Quadrant. The crew was subjugated to painful genetic testing to see if any crew members would be suitable to mate with the being responsible for the transfer, the Caretaker, however none were compatible. By the time the Voyager crew was able to make any kind of meaningful contact with the Caretaker, he was near death and unable to send them back to the Alpha Quadrant. Although Lieutenant Tuvok believed he could activate the system that could send Voyager back himself, that would have meant potentially leaving the technology in the hands of a hostile native species, the Kazon. Instead of allowing the Kazon to seize the Caretaker's advanced technology and potentially harm the peaceful Ocampa, Captain Janeway made the decision to destroy the Caretaker's array and strand Voyager in the Delta Quadrant. After the destruction of the Val Jean during the battle with the Kazon, Starfleet and Maquis crewmembers were forced to merge for the 70-year journey home. ( ) In the Delta Quadrant Voyager officially lost contact with Starfleet on stardate 48307.5 for being too great a distance away from the Alpha Quadrant. Since the Val Jean was destroyed in a battle against the Kazon, its entire surviving crew were transferred to the USS Voyager to embark on the journey home. Several key positions aboard Voyager, emptied by heavy casualties, were filled by their adopted Maquis crew. The deceased chief medical officer was permanently replaced by the EMH, which was originally designed for brief periods of operation only. ( ) On the first few days in the Delta Quadrant, Voyager encountered three new species, including the Talaxians, Ocampa, and Kazon. A Talaxian named Neelix and an Ocampa named Kes became crew members on Voyager after the Caretaker died. ( ) In 2373, Voyager encountered Species 8472, a race more powerful than the Borg. During this time, Voyager forged a temporary alliance with the Borg, involving themselves for a short time in the Borg-Species 8472 War. Voyager developed nanoprobe weapons for use against Species 8472, who eventually retreated from our galaxy. The alliance between Voyager and the Borg led to several temporary additions to the outer hull of the vessel, comprised of Borg technology which allowed the launching of the nanoprobe weapons. While most of the Borg technology was later removed, several components were kept in place as they enhanced the overall performance of several systems. After this incident, a Borg drone designated Seven of Nine became a part of Voyager's crew. At this time, Kes also left Voyager, as a result of her growing telepathic abilities. ( ) Starfleet presumed Voyager to be destroyed in the Badlands until 2374, when the ship's EMH was transmitted to the Federation starship using a Hirogen owned relay station. The ship, at the time, had been taken over by Romulans. The Doctor, with assistance by an EMH Mark II, returned the ship to Starfleet, and spoke directly to Starfleet Headquarters to set the record straight. The ship's inventory included 32 class-6 photon torpedoes at that time. ( ) After the EMH reported Voyager's situation, Starfleet's Communications Research Center set up the Pathfinder Project to find a way to bring back or maintain constant contact with the ship. This project was under the command of Cmdr. Peter Harkins and was supervised by Admiral Paris. The driving force behind the ambitious task to reestablish communications with Voyager, however, was Lieutenant Reginald Barclay. ( ) In 2376, Voyager found the , which had also been stranded in the Delta Quadrant by the Caretaker. Captain Janeway eventually learned of the Equinox crew's criminal experiments on a species of nucleogenic lifeforms. Janeway adopted the remaining crew of the Equinox and put them to work on Voyager under high security, stripping them of commissioned rank. ( ) In early 2376, first contact between Starfleet Command and Voyager was finally established over the MIDAS array using an artificial micro-wormhole. Although the periods of data transfer were very limited, not only was Starfleet able to transmit tactical updates to the Voyager crew, but private conversations between Voyager crew members and their relatives in the Alpha Quadrant were also possible. ( ) In 2377, Voyager recovered pieces of the UESPA long-range probe Friendship 1. ( ) Later that year, Voyager was able to return to Earth with the assistance of an alternate timeline version of Captain Janeway. This Admiral Janeway, who time-traveled from the early 25th century, provided her younger counterpart with sophisticated anti-Borg technology, which included transphasic torpedoes and ablative generator-armor technology. When Voyager reached the hub guided by Admiral Janeway, she ordered the crew to enter, but Captain Janeway was reluctant to waste the opportunity to severely cripple the Borg's infrastructure. After figuring out a way to destroy the hub, Voyager proceeded into one of the transwarp apertures while the Admiral infiltrated the Borg Queen's hive, where she was assimilated. However, Admiral Janeway had previously injected herself with a neurolytic pathogen. The assimilation introduced the pathogen into the Collective via the Borg Queen. This weakened the shielding for the interspatial manifolds located in subspace and Voyager destroyed one hub with three transphasic torpedoes, resulting in a cascading shock wave reaction. While trying to outrun the shock wave, a Borg sphere pursued Voyager and attempted to capture it. Upon exiting the transwarp conduit in the Alpha Quadrant, Voyager (now captured) launched a single transphasic torpedo, destroying the sphere. The conduit, the entire Borg transwarp network, and Unimatrix 01 were all destroyed. A fleet of starships, assembled in response to sensor readings indicating a Borg energy signature, greeted Voyager as she exited the conduit, and escorted her home. ( ) In total, Voyager spent seven years in the Delta Quadrant before returning to Federation space. The original estimate of the time needed for the return trip had been 75 years, but intervention by numerous alien races, spatial anomalies, and the acquisition of new technologies considerably shortened the starship's stay in the Delta Quadrant. During the course of her time spent in the Delta Quadrant Voyager made first contact with over 50 species, repeatedly engaged the Borg and numerous other hostile species, suffered the loss of several crew members, and greatly expanded the Federation's knowledge of the galaxy. Dealings With the Borg See also: Borg-Species 8472 War Although the Delta Quadrant remained mostly unexplored by the the later half of the 24th century, one thing that was known about the region was that it was home to the Borg. The Voyager crew knew the day would come when they would come face to face with the Collective. The first indications that Voyager was approaching Borg space came in 2373, when the remains of a Borg drone were discovered on the Sakari homeworld. A short time later, a derelict Borg cube was discovered adrift in the Nekrit Expanse. ( ) Voyager finally entered Borg space at the end of the year, however instead of facing assimilation, the crew found themselves on the sidelines of a brutal war between the Collective and an extra-dimensional alien species known only by their Borg designation of Species 8472. After determining that Species 8472 represented a significant threat to all life in the Milky Way Galaxy, Captain Janeway decided to form an alliance with the Borg in order to drive the aliens back into their realm. At the conclusion of the war, the Collective betrayed Voyager and attempted to assimilate the crew through Seven of Nine. Fortunately, the Voyager crew planned for this event and was able to disable the drone. ( ) The next significant encounter with the Borg came in 2375, during which Voyager was attacked by a small Probe. Captain Janeway intended only to disable the vessel and steal a Transwarp coil, but ended up destroying it by accident when Harry Kim transported a photon torpedo into an area near the power matrix. After analyzing several recovered data nodes, the crew was able to conduct a successful raid of a damaged Borg sphere and get away with a working transwarp coil, although Seven of Nine was captured during the operation. An away team led by Janeway was eventually able to recover her. ( ) In 2377, the Borg became aware of Unimatrix Zero. The Borg Queen immediately began to research a way to destroy the realm, believing it to be a threat to the Collective. The drones occupying Unimatrix Zero found a way to contact Seven of Nine, who had previously been able to access the region during her time as drone, and through her were able to convince Captain Janeway to assist them. Janeway, Lieutenant Commander Tuvok, and Lieutenant B'Elanna Torres were inoculated with a neural suppressant and allowed to be physically assimilated in order to plant a virus into the Collective. The virus liberated the drones of Unimatrix Zero from the Hive mind, allowing a resistance movement to form against the Borg. ( ) Getting Home In 2378, high levels of neutrino emissions consistent with wormholes were detected inside a nebula. Voyager immediately set a course, only to discover it crawling with Borg. Captain Janeway intended to continue the journey home by conventional means, until a future version of the captain from the year 2404 arrived. This Admiral Janeway provided Voyager with advanced weapons and a deployable hull armor that proved highly resistant to Borg weaponry. With this new technology, Voyager returned to the nebula in force. However, upon the discovery of a transwarp hub at the center of the nebula, Captain Janeway withdrew and immediately began plans to destroy it. Admiral Janeway at first objected to this, but a later change of heart encouraged her to cooperate with her younger self. The plan called for Admiral Janeway to be assimilated by the Borg Queen herself. The admiral was carrying a neurolytic pathogen, which immediately infected the Queen and caused her to loose control of the transwarp hub's manifold shielding, allowing Voyager to destroy the hub from the inside. The pathogen continued to spread throughout the Collective, resulting in the destruction of Unimatrix One and the death of the Queen and Admiral Janeway. Unfortunately, a single Borg sphere managed to successfully assimilate the pathogen and pursued Voyager to the Alpha Quadrant. After allowing Voyager to be brought inside the Sphere, Lieutenant Commander Tuvok fired a transphasic torpedo, destroying the Sphere as Voyager emerged to a Federation fleet in the Alpha Quadrant. ( ) Technical Data Overview Intrepid Class, sustainable cruise velocity of warp factor 9.975, 15 decks, original crew complement of 141, bio-neural circuitry that contains gel-packs with bio-neural cells that can organize information more efficiently and speed up response time. ( ) She displaced 700,000 metric tons. ( ) When first commissioned, this Intrepid-class featured many innovations. The class was the first to incorporate bioneural gel packs and was equipped with the Mark 1 Emergency Medical Hologram system. The Voyager boasted the best navigational sensors, and the highest top speed of any Starfleet vessel until the development of the . Its multi-mission design was backed up by a main computer processor capable of simultaneously accessing 47 million data channels and sustaining 575 trillion calculations per nanosecond in operational temperatures From 10 Degrees Kelvin to 1790 Degrees Kelvin. ( ) Physical Arrangement At only 15 decks and 343 meters in length, the USS Voyager was less than half the size of a Galaxy-class starship. There were 257 rooms on the vessel. ( ) *'Deck 1' **Bridge, Captain's ready room, and briefing room *'Deck 2' **Mess hall and Neelix's kitchen (cabin 125 Alpha, Formally the Captain's private dining hall) *'Deck 4' **Three transporter rooms and Cargo Bay 1 *'Deck 5' **Sickbay, morgue, science labs *'Deck 6' **Both holodecks and the Gym. *'Deck 8' **Astrometrics Lab, Cargo Bay 2, docking ports *'Deck 10' **Shuttlebay *'Deck 11' **Engineering, Deflector Control *'Deck 14' **Environmental controls *'Deck 15' **Plasma Relay Weaponry Voyager carried 13 phaser arrays, four torpedo launchers, and a supply of 38 Class VI photon torpedoes. Due to the tactical nature of Voyager s first assignment, the ship was also equipped with two tricobalt devices, which are not normally carried on Federation starships. ( ) The ship was also equipped with spatial charges. ( ) :Why ''Voyager was launched with so few photon torpedoes is uncertain. It could be that since Voyager s first assignment was not supposed to last longer than a couple of weeks, Starfleet did not worry about fully supplying the ship''. :A fifth torpedo tube is seen firing in , however this is most likely a VFX error as the torpedo tube is in the same position as the aft tractor beam emitter. Borg Enhancements After Captain Janeway's brief alliance with the Borg in 2373-2374, Voyager had gained access to a large amount of Borg technology. The power relays on Deck 8 were noted to work better with the Borg modifications, and left alone. ( ) The Astrometrics lab also utilized Borg sensor equipment to further enhance the vessel's abilities. Four Borg alcoves were located in Cargo Bay 2. In 2375, the 29th century Borg drone One enhanced Voyager s shields and weapons to help the crew escape from a Borg sphere. ( ) Voyager was capable of using Borg Transwarp technology, and did so in 2375 to shave 15 years off of the ship's journey home ( ) Crew See also: [[USS Voyager personnel|USS Voyager personnel]] Several Voyager crew members were killed in the initial transport to the Delta Quadrant. Among the deceased were the vessels original first officer, the chief engineer, a transporter chief, the senior helmsman, and the entire medical staff. Several of these key positions were filled by former Maquis. Since Voyager s initial assignment was only supposed to last two weeks, a counselor was not assigned. Voyager s original crew complement was 141. When the Maquis crew was integrated, the crew count rose to 152. About a quarter of the ship's crew were former Maquis. ( ) Several species were represented on Voyager, including Humans, Vulcans, Bolians, Betazoids, Bajorans, a Klingon/Human hybrid, a Ktarian/Human hybrid, and others. In addition, Voyager also picked up Delta Quadrant natives during the journey home, most of which filled positions on Voyager s crew. Species included a Talaxian, Ocampan, Brunali, and Norcadian. ( ) The merging of Starfleet and Maquis crews on board Voyager went smoothly, and there were few incidents. However, an incident involving B'Elanna Torres and Joe Carey had some Maquis wanting to start a mutiny, Commander Chakotay kept them in line. None the less, Lieutenant Tuvok was preparing for a possible mutiny, and designed a holodeck training program to prepare his security team for such an event. The program was abandoned after a few months, when Tuvok saw how well the two crews were merging and felt that this training program could incite the very mutiny he wanted to avoid. ( ) In 2374, there were 13 departments, which the heads of reported to Tuvok on a daily basis. ( ) In 2377, Lieutenant Commander Tuvok received a letter from his son. Embedded in the letter was a transmission from a former Bajoran Vedek named Teero Anaydis, a Maquis sympathizer who was rejected for experimenting with mind control. During Tuvok's undercover mission in 2371, he was discovered by Teero and was forced to undergo a procedure that, when a Bajoran phrase was stated, Tuvok's "Maquis spirit" would awaken. When Teero finally reached Tuvok in 2377, Tuvok began mind melding with the former Maquis on Voyager, and eventually a mutiny occurred on the ship. Janeway was able to help Tuvok regain control, and after another mind meld with the Maquis, life on board returned to normal. ( ) Command crew *Commanding Officer (CO) **Captain Kathryn Janeway (2371 - 2378) **Lieutenant Tuvok (Briefly 2372) *First Officer / Executive Officer (XO) **Lieutenant Commander Cavit (KIA 2371) **Commander Chakotay (2371 - 2378) *Second Officer / Tactical Officer / Security Chief **Lieutenant / Lieutenant Commander Tuvok (2371 - 2378) *Chief Engineer **Lieutenant Joe Carey (Acting 2371) **Lieutenant B'Elanna Torres (2371 - 2378) *Conn **Lieutenant Stadi (KIA 2371) **Lieutenant Tom Paris (2371 - 2378) *Operations Officer **Ensign Harry Kim (2371 - 2378) *Chief Medical Officer **The Doctor (EMH Mark 1) (2371 - 2378) *Morale Officer / Chef / Ambassador **Neelix (2371 - 2378) *Astrometrics Officer **Seven of Nine (2374 - 2378) *Nurse **Kes (2371 - 2374) **Lieutenant Tom Paris (2371, 2374 - 2378) The journey of Voyager At the beginning of its journey, Voyager was approximately 70,000 light years from Earth. As the Milky Way has a diameter of approximately 100,000 light years, one side of a galactic quadrant equals 50,000 light years. The Sol system including Earth, is about 25,000 light years from the galactic center; thus, we can conclude that the Caretaker's Array and Voyager's starting point was on the far edge of our galaxy. At maximum warp, it was estimated that Voyager would take 75 years to get back to Earth. However, there were various factors which substantially shortened Voyager s stay in the Delta Quadrant: * 2374 - Kes uses her new and more powerful psionic abilities to push Voyager 9,500 light years closer to Earth, simultaneously pushing them out of Borg space. ( ) * 2374 - Using the new astrometrics lab, Ensign Harry Kim and Seven of Nine plot a new course to the Alpha Quadrant that takes 5 years off of Voyager s journey. ( ) * 2374 - Quantum slipstream drive technology is discovered aboard the , which brings Voyager 300 light years closer to home. ( ) * 2375 - Within a region of space called The Void, Voyager discovers a wormhole which brings them 2,500 light years closer to Earth, also having the advantage of sending them out of the dark region they had been trapped in for the last few months. ( ) * 2375 - Voyager attempts to use quantum slipstream drive again. The ship travels 10,000 light years before the slipstream collapses due to intervention from an alternate future. ( ) * 2375 - Voyager raids a Borg sphere and manages to steal a transwarp coil. After using it on a rescue mission in the Delta Flyer, the coil allows the ship to travel 20,000 light years closer to home. ( ) * 2376 - Voyager accidentally enters the Vaadwaur species' underspace corridors, which propel the ship 200 light years from its entry point. The direction, however, was not mentioned, however it is logical to assume it was within the direction of Earth, based on Gedrin's information to Janeway.( ) * 2376 - Voyager uses a graviton catapult designed by an alien called Tash to travel about 3000 light years closer to Earth. ( ) * 2377 - Grateful for her assistance with his son, Q provides Janeway with a map containing a shortcut to the Alpha Quadrant that would shorten Voyager's journey home by "a few years"; whether they used this route before they managed to reach home wasn't revealed. ( ) * 2378 - Voyager concludes its trip home by using the Borg transwarp network to return to the Alpha Quadrant, while destroying it with the help of an alternate future-timeline Admiral Kathryn Janeway. ( ) Combining these distances, Voyager was able to cover 48,100 light years in addition to that covered by normal means at warp speed. The distance covered by normal warp drive however, remains unclear, as the position of the transwarp hub was not stated. Furthermore a transwarp conduit allows passage to distant parts of the galaxy within minutes, which makes an estimation difficult. First Contacts Voyager made more first contacts than any other Federation starship since the era of James T. Kirk and the original . ( ) Notable first contacts include: * Nacene - 2371 ( ) * Talaxians - 2371 ( ) * Kazon - 2371 ( ) * Ocampa - 2371 ( ) * Vidiians - 2371 ( ) * Voth - 2373 ( ) * Species 8472 - 2373 ( ) * Krenim - 2374 ( ) * Hirogen - 2374 ( ) * Malon - 2375 ( ) * Devore - 2375 ( ) * Vaadwaur - 2376 ( ) * Brunali - 2376 (prior to ) For a complete list of Voyager s first contacts, see [[Delta Quadrant species|Delta Quadrant species encountered by Voyager]]. Embarked craft * Aeroshuttle * Baxial * Cochrane * Delta Flyer * Delta Flyer II * Drake * Sacajawea * Tereshkova ''Voyager'' references * [[Delta Quadrant species|Delta Quadrant species encountered by Voyager]] * [[Regions visited by Voyager|Regions visited by Voyager]] * [[USS Voyager dedication plaque|USS Voyager dedication plaque]] Appendices Background *The first series bible describes Voyager as being "smaller, sleeker and more advanced than the . It holds a crew of some two hundred, and does not have families on board." *The model of Voyager (Lot #357) was sold at the 40 Years of Star Trek: The Collection auction on for US$132,000 including the buyer's premium (the winning bid was US$110,000). The winner of the lot, a man from Leicester, England, was interviewed in The History Channel's documentary Star Trek: Beyond the Final Frontier. He was also the winner of the model. *[http://www.myprops.co.uk/voyager.htm Photographs of the Voyager model in 2007] * A schematic lot of Voyager s bridge and engineering sets was sold off on the It's A Wrap! sale and auction on eBay as well as an engineering display graphic which includes the labels Deuterium supply, Matter reactant injector, Antimatter supply, Magnetic construction segment, Dilithium crystal articulation frame, warp flow sensors, emergency override, intercoolers, dilithium chamber, magnetic quench block, and gas combiner. References * Star Trek: Voyager See also * [[Intrepid class#The Voyager prototype|USS Voyager prototype]] * Novel series * Comics: ** Marvel Comic series ** Wildstorm Comic series External link * cs:USS Voyager de:USS Voyager es:USS Voyager fr:USS Voyager (NCC-74656) it:USS Voyager ja:USSヴォイジャー nl:USS Voyager pl:U.S.S. "Voyager" NCC-74656 sv:USS Voyager Voyager, USS